A little over a year ago, the First Presidency of the Church and the Area Offices over Western Africa initiated a new concept in the way the Church was going to open up new cities and introduce missionaries into these areas. Sunyani, the capital of the Brong-Ahafo Region, lies in the heart of the Ghana rainforest, and became the testing ground for this new program. Under the direction of Elder Dickson, Area President, the Church divided Sunyani into four areas and leased large block homes in each of these areas. Part of each of these buildings was to be used for meeting houses and part was used to house a pair of missionaries while they began their proselyting efforts.
They initially sent in eight missionaries as well as one senior couple. The gospel spread quickly but before a year had passed, Elder Bennett (the senior Elder) developed serious health problems, and they were sent home immediately. They had done an incredible job of getting this little outpost of missionaries going. The missionaries, now 10, were left entirely on their own with the only nearby support two hours away in Kumasi. These young men performed unbelievably and the Sunyani area grew with three of the four areas (called units) becoming branches before a year was even up.
When we arrived in February of 2012, our living quarters were in one of these branches. The Nkwabeng branch had grown so much by now, that it was necessary for us to move so that the members could use all of the rooms and space in the building for their meetings. They are so excited that they now have places for Primary and Relief Society, Priesthood, and such. We are currently looking for apartments/homes for the missionaries who are living in Penkwase, another of the buildings, so their members can utililize their building as well.
The Church is now growing so rapidly here that the other unit will soon become a branch and we are looking for a new building for the other existing branch as their building is very soon going to be too small. Since we have been here, we have had 2-3 baptisms every week. This week, we will be having five. All of the buildings share a large blue plastic container that we use as a baptisimal font and we transport it on the top of our truck from one branch to another. We are hoping that we can soon build more permanent fonts in at least two of the branches.
The people are incredible! They are pure and sweet, loving and very friendly. There are no gangs, no graffiti, no smoking, no pornography. You never even see members of the opposite sex holding hands or flirting. We see little drinking. The Sunyani people are so ready for the Gospel. They love their families and in most cases, extended family all live together. They are very poor. Many live in mud huts or cement unfinished houses with no electricity, water or plumbing. They cook, bathe, go to the bathroom and brush their teeth outside. And yet, they are contented and always happy.
In the short time we have been here, we have become very close to our ten missionaries. Three are from the USA (Dallas, Texas,and Centerville and Idaho), one is from New Zealand and the other six are African Elders from Accra and Nigeria.
Last week, the Zone Leaders had received a referral from Church headquarters in Salt Lake. A young African man had found information about the Church on the internet, had studied it quite extensively and wanted to know more. He was actually from Dormaa, a city west of Sunyani on the Ivory Coast border, but was going to school in Techiman, which is a city about two hours north of here, so the Elders asked us to drive them up there to meet him. It turned out to be one of those fabulous days when you just feel the Lord's hand guiding you. We arrived in Techiman to find that this young man named Shadrack also had two brothers living with him and they were all VERY well versed in the Bible. They met us in this huge marketplace and then took us a family compound--a courtyard encircled by houses within a walled area. We sat on plastic chairs in the courtyard and all around on the porches of the surrounding houses sat older women. The Elders proceeded to teach the three young men. They were so anxious to hear more and had so many great and thought-provoking questions. After an incredible couple of hours, the Elders gave each of them a Book of Mormon and challenged them to read it. They were all so excited to know more. We said our goodbys and as we were preparing to leave, a very older woman, who was dressed in authentic African dress and had no teeth, approached us and very excitedly said something in Twi and pointed to Elder Thayne. She kept repeating the same thing and pointing to him. We finally found out that she was saying, "I want him for my husband!" She was not about to take no for an answer, so we thanked her politely and left quickly. I'm not sure if Elder Thayne thought it was a great compliment, but the Elders and I laughed all the way home.
That very week, back in Sunyani, we were approached by President Mintah (one of the young branch presidents) to go to Dormaa (the same town that Shadrack and his brothers were from). Wow! What a coincidence! Dormaa is the opposite direction from Techiman and we were going to meet an honorable Parliament gentleman who is a member of the Church and lives in Dormaa. He is very powerful, spends most of his time in Accra, as he is like one of our US Senators and works in the Capital. He wore an official government uniform and welcomed us into his family home, served us cookies and juice and talked about opening up the Church in Dormaa. It is probably a little way off, but he is looking for a building and will help us when the time is right.
Next month we will be forming a new District over all of Sunyani (over 140,000 people) as well as the surrounding areas. Gary is going to be put in as District President over the entire area. It is really exciting because now we can really help the area grow and be able to train these new Branch Presidents and all of the auxiliaries. They are so new in the Gospel and so eager to learn. It will be an overwhelming job and responsibility, but he will be great. In July, the Ghana Cape Coast Mission will be split and we will be in the new Kumasi Ghana Mission and will be getting a new mission President and we've heard over 50 more missionaries. We are really excited because perhaps now we can open up some of these new areas we've been visiting. Isn't it interesting the way the Lord works and opens doors for the things he needs to get done?
No comments:
Post a Comment